Start This Old Heart
by michellewritesfics
Summary: To celebrate their anniversary, the Ponds insist on dancing. The Doctor lands in a ballroom set in 1892 and the couple begin dancing, leaving the Time Lord to find a partner. And he ends up finding his perfect match. Alternate universe. Oneshot.


A/N: I seem to have alluded to other Doctor Who fics I made. Whoops?

Contains Rory/Amy, slight 11th Doctor/Amy, mention of 11th Doctor/River, mention of Tentoo/Rose, and ultimately 11th Doctor/Rose.

* * *

"Happy anniversary!" the Doctor chimed, a gleeful laugh emitting right after his announcement. He no longer wore his tweed and bow-tie, but wore a blue pinstripe suit that seemed to be a few sizes larger than his slim frame could handle. Of course, this was the very same outfit that his previous incarnation had worn. He decided that he should have dressed for the occasion.

The Doctor paced around the console room with hands waving in the hand in a bit of a dismissive manner as if saying 'oh, no, no,' and the Time Lord finally came to a complete and deliberate stop, body hovering over the control panel of the center of the control room. "So, where would you like to go?" He turned to face his companions, a permanently happy grin written on his face.

A laugh broke out from Rory. "You don't need to do anything for us, Doctor. It's just our anniversary," he commented, not wanting to bother the Doctor's never-ending worries about them. "We'll have the old-fashioned dinner date. Right, Amy?" He darted his green eyes over to his redheaded wife, flashing a considerate smile. He witnessed her shake his head and his smile reduced in size. "What? You _want _to go somewhere?"

"Yes," said Amy in a matter-of-fact tone. "I want to go dancing." She heard the Doctor and Rory stifle a laugh. "Oi! Don't laugh," she added as she elbowed rather fiercely at Rory's side. "Come on, Doctor." She latched herself away from Rory's side momentarily to walk toward the Doctor, accompanying him. She pointed at the row of buttons of the panel before them and gave the Doctor a brief wink. "Come on, alien boy." She was given a weird look by the Doctor. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing." The alien shook his head as if getting rid of a memory he was reminiscing in and addressed a nervous laugh as he fiddled with the levers and the buttons. With the machinery being expertly handled by the Doctor, he found no effort talking to the couple - mainly negotiating with Amy - and guiding the TARDIS through the vortex. "You might want to hang onto something!" And with one sweep of his hand through the panel, the Doctor and the two humans residing in the blue box found themselves hurtling through the time vortex at an incredibly rapid speed. Amy clutched against the panel's sides while the Doctor firmly held his balance with one hand on a lever and the other hand onto Amy's shoulder. He took a quick glance over to Rory and smiled with reassurance that the centurion had held tightly at a rail.

A few minutes pass by and the TARDIS came to a jerky stop. "O-okay, I think we're all right!" the Doctor exclaimed, hand releasing from both Amy and the lever. He felt stable. Incredibly stable. A sigh of relief parted his lips, and the Doctor stumbled back, then turned his head to face the doors. "If the TARDIS actually did something right," he started in a bit of a teasing tone, "then I believe that we should be in Hungary. Budapest, actually. Buda Castle. 1892. You two should get dressed, mm?"

Amy smiled in return when she was given the information and the advice from the Doctor. She moved back to Rory's side and laced her arm around his, pulling him to exit the room and into the corridor. "We'll be right back, okay, Doctor?"

"Yeah," he responded calmly, now taking large strides over to the doors, excited to show his companions about the ballroom. "1892. Before or after they rebuilt the ceiling, I'm not quite sure yet," he said with his forefinger brushing against his chin. Opening one of the doors, the Doctor was greeted with a series of lights colliding against the blue-black of night. Yellow, bright lights. Dim yet rich golden lights. And between the sea of sunshine-colored lights, the Doctor noticed that some of the lights held a mint green color or an insanely pale periwinkle. "Wonderful," he said, almost out of breath. Averting his attention away from the lights for a moment, he realizes that he's just a few feet away from entering the castle's baroque wing. Perfect.

He saw women and men dressed in their fanciest attire entering the part of the largely-constructed building. Peculiar dresses, formal suits, yet all were simply elegant. Though, in the crowd of dresses and tuxedos, the Doctor saw a blonde with a jacket and no, no, n-

"Doctor?"

The Doctor snapped his head back to bring his undivided attention toward the source of the noise. It was Amy. And just when he thought he couldn't handle the perfect art of designing, he found Amy dressed in a silk and gold ball gown. A strapless dress that went down to her ankles. A thin ribbon rested on Amy's right hip and that was it. Amy usually would go for something much more exquisite, but he supposed that she would go for something much more simple. "You look wonderful, Amy," he complimented, catching the red-glossed lips and wishing that he would just _kiss her._ The thing with the Doctor was that he found Amy fairly attractive and when she kissed him, it both shocked and electrified him, causing him to want more. But no, no. Not now. Not anymore. Sure, he still had some kind of attraction toward Amy, but she was Rory's now and he had to respect that.

"Where's Ror-" The Doctor was cut short when he found Rory in a tweed jacket and matching trousers. Actually, it was _his_ tweed. "What are you-"

Rory let out a sigh and pointed over to Amy. "She wanted me to dress up in this. I told her that I wouldn't fit, but hey, I didn't know you were my size." He heard the Doctor mutter out a 'me neither' and the companion smirked. "You don't mind, do you?"

The Doctor hesitated in answering, not quite sure how to express his feelings toward Rory wearing his clothes. Eventually, the Doctor brought forth an 'it's okay' before attracting attention back to the whereabouts outside of the TARDIS. "So… Buda Castle. Shall we? Ladies first, ma'am." He bowed forward, his bottle green eyes catching Amy's chocolate brown ones as she passed him. He saw the matching shoes Amy wore and honestly, he could have told her once again she was beautiful right then and there but the words were caught in his mouth.

When Rory passed him, the Doctor slung an arm around his male companion's shoulder, pulling him close. "You really do look dashing, you know, Rory?" Becoming much more familiar with Rory wearing his signature outfit, the Doctor grew to accept it and found it fit for him. "You should wear it every day," he teased, exiting the TARDIS with him.

"Ohhh, no," Rory started, shaking his head. He heard the Doctor snap his fingers with the hand that was just near his ear. The TARDIS' door closed behind them. "She wanted me to wear the bow-tie, too, you know. I couldn't. Possibly couldn't." He chuckled softly and started to imagine him wearing one of the Doctor's ties. "Oh, God, no."

"What?! Bow-ties are cool, you know that. And so are fezzes."

"Only to you, Doctor," said Rory as the two of them followed Amy into the building, revealing the ballroom almost immediately. "Wow… you really outdone yourself, Doctor."

The Doctor gave Rory a look, a crooked smile transforming his once cheerful one. "I wasn't the one that built the castle, Rory. If I could, well, I would. But I didn't. Wasn't here at the time." He scanned his eyes at the interior of the ballroom. The intricately designed chandeliers almost took his breath away but when it was combined with the equally beautiful attire of the people there, the Doctor could've sworn his hearts stopped for a nanosecond. "Fantastic."

He felt the warmth escape him and the Doctor plucked his attention away from the décor of the place to his side, finding a missing Rory. Almost panicking, the Doctor easily found the brown-haired man with Amy, talking to her. The Gallifreyan suspected that he was asking her to dance. And it was. Not long after, he found the couple dancing to the beat of the music. His ears twitched and the Doctor turned his head to the source of the catchy tune. His vision caught a cropped image of a group orchestrating Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 and his ears trapped the harmonic singing tone of the piece. Oh, God. Such a gracious noise.

His green eyes took quick glances around the ballroom, seeing almost everyone paired up with someone else as they danced along to the tune of the piece. It was him left standing there, nervous and still, in the middle of everything. Like he was alone. The music caught an even faster tempo and the Doctor noticed that everyone was adjusting to the pace of the rhapsody. Hell, he even saw Rory and Amy trying to keep up with everything. Certainly, the Doctor found it amusing. And just when he started his adventure roaming his eyes around the room, he found the same blonde from before. He remembered it even if he had just taken a glimpse of her figure. "O-oi!" He waved his arms in the air, trying to catch the woman's attention. Though, she didn't turn to look at him.

Alternate plan. The Doctor squished through the crowds of people dancing slowly. He knew the song was coming to an end. The tempo picked up, increasing to an almost ear-shattering volume and altered to become more dramatic, and finally ended with a big finish, the last few notes of the piece shrieking out. "Hey, hey!" Again, he waved his arms in the air, repeating his words but found them useless when the crowds cheered and clapped thunderously, trampling down his voice.

After the clapping and the excited shouts dimmed down, the Doctor tried once last time, "hey!" And that finally caught her attention. And again, he could've sworn that his hearts had stopped momentarily. His mouth dried up quickly as he tried to force out another 'hey.'

The blonde's eyes - which were a brown color, but not as deep of a color as Amy's - traveled to check at the Doctor's attire. "You're not from here, are you?" He knew this voice. And he knew her face. Oh, God. Why was she here? "Er, hello?" She easily glided toward him and the Doctor expected her to start running to him with a cheerful expression with extended arms, but she didn't. She coolly walked over to him and took another look at his clothes. "That suit doesn't fit you. Who's your tailor?"

"Who's yours?" He raised a near-invisible eyebrow at her. "Leather jacket, pink shirt, designer jeans. Hell, you've got _boots _on. Annnd… a fancy watch but it really isn't a watch, now is it? Some kind of time-traveling device, yeah?" He brought a finger to point at the device strapped onto the girl's wrist. "Vortex manipulator, I'm assuming?"

"And it's running out of batteries," she commented, tapping at the edge of the item. "Most Hungarians don't know about these things, you know." The blonde stuck her tongue out, catching it between her teeth, eyes twinkling with a hint of playfulness and curiosity. "Doctor?"

"More like New New _New _Doctor. Oi, is that right?" It took him a moment to confirm it, but when he did, he nodded. "Right. I think. New New New Doctor. Hello there, Rose Tyler. What are you doing here in a place like this?" And between the time he had asked and the time she answered him with an 'oh, just work,' another rhapsody started playing. By Liszt, of course, but it must have been one of the lesser-known pieces. "Spare a dance with me, Tyler?" His voice sounded formal without him intending to. He crinkled his nose, mouthing an apology right after.

The woman known as Rose mouthed an 'it's all right' before slipping a hand into his, raising them just a centimeter above her shoulder. She placed her other hand on the Doctor's shoulder and prompted him to place his free hand on her waist, which he did. Nodding her head slightly to the pace of the music, counting the beats, Rose started to move, guiding the Time Lord. "Please tell me you've taken dancing lessons, Mister Two Left Feet." And with that comment, she laughed.

The Doctor felt his chest constrict and elicited a trembling laugh in return. "No, no. Sorry to disappoint. Had better things to do than taking dancing lessons. Like adventures."

"Yeah? And how is that?" She kept her eyes down to look at their feet, careful not to step onto the Doctor's or vice versa.

He shrugged, following her gaze to look down at the ground before paying attention to her slightly-curled blonde hair. For a second there, he'd mistaken her for River. Or, well, a younger version of her. "Good, good. Brought new friends along. They're here with me. Celebrating their anniversary. The Ponds, I like to call them. Rory and Amy Pond. The Last Centurion and The Girl Who Waited."

Another laugh from Rose. She lifted her head up to look at the Doctor. "You've blue eyes," she observed, taking a break from the current conversation they were in and introducing another. "Just like my Doctor's."

"They're green!" the Doctor corrected, a contorted expression masking his face. "Must be the lighting or something, but I can definitely tell you that they are gre-wait, _your _Doctor?"

"Shut up," Rose rolled her eyes, eyes seizing a glimpse at the vortex manipulator. "And do you give nicknames to everyone that travels with you?"

He shook his head quickly. "Nah," he started, "you'll always be The Defender of Earth, I think." She quickly retorted with a 'you think?' and raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. "Okay, okay, fine. I know. Happy?"

"Definitely."

"So, you're here because of work. How are things, then? With the family? Pete and Jackie doing okay? How about little Tyler? Oh! And Handy, of course. How about him?" Questions remained swimming in his head and he so desperately wanted to blurt them out. The Doctor wanted to keep up with Rose's life. He wanted to know how she was doing. To know if she was all right.

Rose twisted her lips, pondering carefully and thoughtfully through the questions that the Doctor tossed at her. "Things are all right. 'Little Tyler's' almost five. Or four. Maybe. I'm not quite sure. Mum and Dad are doing good. Domestic as hell." The Doctor's sudden laugh caused her to squeal slightly, not anticipating it. "As for John and me, we're doing all right. No little kids of our own, thank God."

"What? Kids are great!" He let out another laugh, thumb rubbing at Rose's waist without him realizing. When he heard her reason for it, the Doctor shook his head once again. "What I'm getting from this is that you don't want to become domestic like your parents. Then again…" he paused, thinking his next set of words through. "Well, fighting off aliens and taking care of kids aren't really a great combination. Stay away from kids. Not until you two finally decide to settle."

"You know, you've finally aged up. And here I thought you were just another baby-faced Time Lord," Rose teased, lifting a hand up to pinch at the Doctor's cheek, causing him to turn a faint shade of pink.

He turned his head away from Rose, muttering a child-like 'stop it' and pouted before flashing yet another smile to her. "So, Hand-John, John. That's his name? Johnny Boy?" He saw Rose nod. "So, married, right?" Again, she nodded. "I'm married, too, you know. Just recently."

"Yeah?" Rose's eyes shimmered with even more curiosity and a hint of something else. Jealousy? Not quite. "Who?"

"You don't know her."

"Of course I don't, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't tell me who you're with. Well, congratulations first, but… c'mon, Doctor. Tell me or I'll pinch ya again," she threatened, still keeping the playfulness in her voice. When she heard the name of her former love's wife, Rose repeated his words, "River Song."

The Doctor nodded, a shudder racing down his spine. He never heard River's song so elegantly pronounced before. Not even from _his own_ voice. "She's feisty. Sexy beyond belief. Blonde…"

"You've still a thing for blondes, I see."

"Yeah." He chortled, still keeping up with Rose's guidance. And honestly, he couldn't believe that he hadn't stepped on her feet yet.

The two danced in silent, listening to the music. And that when the composition was reaching its end, the Doctor realized it was Liszt's fifth rhapsody. Both the tempo and the music dimmed down, and the Doctor and Rose took advantage of this to hum the reverberating beat in unison. Then, the Doctor took lead in the humming as he resumed to let Rose command him with the movements.

And it was like dancing. Back in the TARDIS. Team TARDIS. With his big-eared, blue-eyed and balding ninth dancing with a fairly young and rather cheeky young adult. With his innuendo-loving captain blasting out Moonlight Serenade and jumping into the TARDIS from his ship. This was Team TARDIS. And he certainly wished Jack was here. But unfortunately, two of the three members of Team TARDIS arrived to this unexpected reunion. If only.

That was when the Doctor realized he's far too close to Rose. Feeling the slightly hitched breathing on his neck; feeling the blonde curls tickle his jaw and cheek. He moved his head back, tittering. "S-sorry. Sorry about that. Was just daydreaming. Or something like that."

"S'all right," Rose replied with a generous smile. A beep from the device attached to her wrist and Rose stopped moving altogether, almost sending the Doctor to clash against her. Thankfully, he caught his balance. The ex-companion fiddled with the vortex manipulator. "Damn."

"What? What is it?" The Doctor removed his hands from Rose's being, taking a tiny step back.

"Low battery." She continued toying with it, pressing coordinates to lock into the device. To send her back. "I need to go before I'm stuck here. Don't think I want that."

The Doctor offered, "I… you know, I can always give you a ride in the TARDIS. Along with the Ponds. How 'bout that?" She shook her head and he frowned almost immediately. Hurt masked his boyish face. "Why not?" He saw Rose look up with him, then reflected his frown. She gave him a short 'I can't,' which caused the Doctor to repeat his last statement. "Why not?"

Another beep from the manipulator. "I've got 45 seconds. Can't really delay it, first of all. And I don't know if you _can _enter my universe now. Technology's always improving and-well, let's put it this way, yeah? I just can't." She was trying to soften the impact. She knew how hurt the Doctor was. How rejected he felt. She just couldn't go with him. No matter how much she wanted to.

A deep sigh parted the Doctor's lips. "All right, all right. I understand." His voice strained, the Doctor continued, "45 seconds. I can do that. One more tiny dance?" They were already in the middle of Karl Goldmark's first movement of his famous Rustic Wedding Symphony, and it took the Doctor a few seconds to get used to the beat. Once he did, the Gallifreyan took lead, his hands back to their previous position, and took large strides across the ballroom floor as the notes prolonged in its angelic pitch. He closed his eyes, the next part of the piece much more bouncy and a bit more busy than it previously had been, and danced to the tune. The Doctor heard Rose giggle as she kept up with the Doctor's movements, her feet shuffling across the marble floor inexpertly. He brought his forehead to rest against hers, entangling his floppy, brown hair with her golden strands. "Oh, Rose Tyler," he whispered in a low pitch.

"Yes?" Rose answered back instantly and she felt this new Doctor flinch. "Relax," she told him. Another beep. "Make it quick, Doctor. You've got 15 seconds."

"Roses are red," he started and heard another giggle from her. "Stop that." She did and he grinned. "Mm. My pinstripe is blue." Exactly five seconds later, another sharp alarm broke out and the Doctor made a noise that resembled a combination of a groan and a grumble. "If it's my last chance to say it." He lowered his head down to glide his cheek against her poreless skin, moist lips just hovering over hers. "Rose Tyler, I…"

His eyes peeled open when the last alarm noised out. His mouth slightly gaped, the Doctor realized that he planted a chaste kiss to a ghost. Surely, he was heartbroken before, but this? This was too much. The Doctor swallowed his regret and depression with one swift gulp, then darted his eyes to look for Amy and Rory. After some time, right when the second movement of the symphony had begun, he found them. Still dancing. He now had two choices: he could stay and dance with someone else - which he really didn't want to at this very moment - or drag the two back into the TARDIS, leaving the castle. Seeing that he shouldn't interrupt Amy's wish about dancing with her husband to celebrate their anniversary, the Doctor decided to go with a third option.

He squirmed his way out of the crowd and leaned against one of the walls, his green eyes focusing on the couple that were enjoying their night. _Their_ night. And really, maybe, just maybe it was his night, too. He got to meet - and dance - with an ex-companion of his, so there's a plus. The negative? The universe hated him. It was like the universe didn't want him and Rose together. But, he believed, it was for the best.

Every now and then as the rest of Goldmark's compositional poem flowed freely through the room, he imagined his ninth and a 19-year-old Rose dancing, trying to restrain their laughs when he would fumble. And throughout the symphony, the Doctor was humming Moonlight Serenade while keeping his eyes locked on his companions. How he wished they were him and Rose. Or Jack and him, which never did happen in this body. He was all up for it.

Right now, the Doctor just didn't want to be alone. He could've been with anyone, but he honestly just wanted Rose with him again. He breathed out a sigh, threading a hand through his now damp hair.

When the arrangement came to a big finish, the Doctor broke away from the wall he was leaning on and waved an arm about, calling out his companions' names. "Hey, guys!" He caught Rory's attention and when Rory nudged to Amy, she looked to the direction of the Doctor, catching a peek of him, and created a smile, waving back. "We're going back!" He saw Amy nod, taking Rory's hand into hers and led the way through the dancing strangers toward the Doctor. Once they did, the Doctor once again swallowed the loneliness that engulfed his face. "We're going back to the TARDIS. How was it? Dancing, that is."

"It was great," Rory replied, an effortless laugh escaping from him. "Really great. Don't you think, Amy?" She nodded in response. "And I guess you were doing fine by yourself? With that girl?"

The Doctor stiffened, concentrated eyes catching Rory's. He softened his look, a small smile etched on him. "Yeah. Rose, her name, I think. Great dancer. She had to leave, though."

The trio exited the building altogether and a gust of cold wind tackled them. Amy shuddered, clinging onto Rory for warmth on her right, and pulled the Doctor close to her for equal warmth on her to her left. "Chilly."

"Yeah," the Doctor agreed, slipping his free hand into his trouser pocket.

"So, that girl. Wasn't from here, was she?" Rory questioned, bringing up a completely new conversation altogether. He saw the Doctor furrow his brows and shake his head. "Would've known."

"Well, they could have had jackets and all back here. You don't know that." Amy was given a quizzical look by both Rory and the Doctor. "Don't give me that look." She hit lightly at Rory's chest with the back of her hand, rolling her eyes.

Rory shook his head. "No, it isn't that. Just-I met her before. Kind of. That whole Bad Wolf thing, right, Doctor?" He brought his attention back to the Time Lord. "Forgot to tell you another thing. There was a girl, just like Rose, she would come by every time the words appeared. She didn't talk to me. She just… she looked lost."

"She was looking for somebody," the Doctor responded. "Me." He glanced over to Amy. She had a confused look on her face. And she gave him a look; she wanted an explanation. "'Bad Wolf' is her. It was Rose. Kind of. I-I don't know how to explain it," the Doctor unhooked his arm from Amy to rub at his nape nervously and snapped his fingers, the TARDIS doors opening up for them. The Doctor climbed into the box first, followed by Amy and Rory. "It's all so confusing. She looked into the TARDIS, the TARDIS looked into her. Became the Bad Wolf. Like Idris, remember her?" They both nodded. "Yeah, well, stuff happened. Then I had to throw Rose into another universe with a copy of myself. For her own good, I swear." He moved over to the center of the console room with his eyes on the still time rotor. "She's dead in this world."

"So what was she doing here?" Amy, still curious and still demanding answers, asked.

The Doctor shrugged a shoulder and screwed his eyes shut. "Fighting monsters. More or less." He felt a hand cover his and the Doctor's eyes opened. He trailed his pupils over to the hand. Slender. Delicate. Amy's. He croaked, "I lost her."

"Yeah? Raggedy man," Amy commented right after, "you are _not_ going to lose us. Promise."

Promises. Useless promises.

The Doctor forced a reassuring smile and leaned over to press a kiss to Amy's cheek. "Thank you. So, where to next?" he said in a rather impatient tone, wanting to get out of the conversation he was dealing with.

"I don't know about you, but I'm beat. Amy?" It was Rory. He stretched, then slipped out of the Doctor's tweed jacket. "Joining me?"

Amy looked to Rory, then back to the Doctor. Her brown eyes asked for consent and when she saw the Doctor nod, producing out a soft 'yes,' Amy returned the sign of affection. The redhead planted a kiss to the Doctor's forehead and ruffled his hair, removing her hand away from the Doctor's. "Just shout for us if you need anything, okay? And 'member, we'll still be around for you. Got that?"

"Yeah, yeah, I will," the Doctor saw the couple leave the room and disappear into the furthest part of the corridor. "Thank you."

It didn't matter. They would leave in the end. Somehow. Leave him traveling on his own scared and alone. But right now, he needed comfort. And he's so, so grateful to have Rory and Amy here. They might had not been Rose, but they're all he had. They were there for him, just like she did. And just like Rose, just like the rest of his previous companions before and after Rose Tyler, they had the sort of faces to start his old hearts.

And he was so grateful.


End file.
